


Bad Girl, Beth

by akiraflame_tumblr



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-02-17 10:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2306762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akiraflame_tumblr/pseuds/akiraflame_tumblr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth is a senior in high school and she's pretty-bad ass. She's been labeled a bad girl by everyone in town for getting into fights and driving a motorcycle. One day in school, she meets the new kid named Daryl and...as it turns out he's a bad boy and the two click instantly. Bethyl au.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Well at least my sister ain’t some drunk college whore!” Beth’s body tensed and she dropped her armload of books, spinning her body and clenching her fist before socking the quarterback in his nose, breaking it with a crunch as blood flowed down his face. “You bitch!” He roared as his hand moved to slap her. Beth grabbed his wrist before he could hit her and kicked him in the groin. The fight had gathered a small audience and everyone all “oooh’d” and groaned in pain with the senior football player as he collapsed to the tile floor in pain.

“Nobody talks about my sister like that!” She yelled in his face before letting out a huff and pushing her way through the growing crowd, most of whom parted when they saw her coming. This wasn’t Beth’s first fight in the school, though it was the first of her senior year. She smirked when some of the girls flinched and whispered about her.

“Ms. Greene, Mr. Jones, my office, now!” The principal yelled from the end of the hall as he approached. Beth shrugged and picked up her books.

“Mr. Jones may take a while to join us, Mr. Porter. I kinda kicked him in the balls.”

“My office, now,” Beth could tell that the man in front of her was not amused and she smiled sweetly at him.

“You got it, Mr. Porter.” Beth walked ahead of her principal, her ponytail swaying slightly as a slight bounce entered each step she took. Part of Beth was sick of high school, public school in general. She had thought about dropping out and just getting her GED and going off to college but she also liked the idea having the social experiences of her senior year. Part of her wanted to dress up and attend her senior prom, though she knew she wouldn’t have a date to go with her but she could just make it a fun day and night with her friends, Amy and Carl.

The rest of her just wanted to get the heck out of dodge as quickly as possible. She loved her life, loved the farmhouse and her chores around the farm. She loved her family and friends, but the loss of her mother hung everywhere in this small town. Everyone had known Annette Greene and had loved her. Her mother loved to eat at the diner on Saturdays and shopped for books during her free time. Everywhere Beth looked, there was some reminder of her mother. Three years later, every face Beth looked at still held grief and pity towards her. She was the unstable Greene, the suicidal Greene. She just wanted to go to a place where her face was invisible to the world; where she was just another body on the sidewalk. Beth realized that her fighting and causing problems only made the attention she received worse, but she only got in fights when it was called for. Like today.

Beth figured her motorcycle gained her a lot of negative attention too but at least she wasn’t out doing drugs like some of the other seniors. She drank occasionally but she still had good grades and obeyed the law. For the most part. Getting into fights had gotten her a couple of threats for assault charges but so far, she had managed to avoid any real legal problems.

“This is your eighth visit to my office, Ms. Greene,” Mr. Porter started as soon as they were in his office, pulling Beth from her thoughts.

“You’re counting last year too, Mr. P. This is my first visit of this school year,” Beth corrected calmly.

“We’re only a month into the new school year, Beth.” Mr. Porter told her and Beth rolled her eyes. As if I didn’t know that already, she thought.

“Well, I figured a month of good behavior was enough. Besides, he called my sister a drunk college whore. He had it comin’.” The older man in front of her sighed and stared at her for a moment.

“I’m having Mrs. Blake call your father. I’m not putting up with your attitude and fighting again this year. Straighten up, Ms. Greene,” Mr. Porter dug into his desk and pulled out the suspension forms and began filling one out. Beth sighed. This would disappoint her father, he would probably get incredibly angry with her and talk about how upset this would make her mother if she were here to see this. The blonde couldn’t help but think that her mother knew that this would be how Beth acted the older she got. She had a feeling that her mother would have been expecting this. After all, Beth’s mother had always told everyone when they asked about her girls that Maggie was a spark, but Beth was a wildfire. Maggie had a temper and a level of sass that had pushed their father’s buttons as they grew, but she always reigned herself in before things got physical. Beth didn’t do that, she honestly wasn’t even sure she could.

“A week of in school suspension for fighting.” Mr. Porter’s voice cut through Beth’s thoughts again and she looked at the form as he filled out why she was getting the punishment.

“Last year, I told you to cut your mullet and you gave me two weeks’ worth of detention, one week of ISS doesn’t seem like much for breaking someone’s nose,” Beth smiled sweetly as his pen paused over the form and he sighed before carrying on with his writing.

“Mr. Porter, Dr. Greene is unavailable but I talked with Maggie. She said she could come get Ms. Greene if that was needed,” the voice of Mrs. Blake carried into the room and Beth sighed. Great, Maggie’s involved. There’s going to be a yelling match later…or maybe not when she finds out I defended her honor.

“That won’t be necessary. Ms. Greene can finish the day. Your suspension will start tomorrow and I really suggest you straighten up, Ms. Greene. I will not have you bullying or fighting in my school. I will give you out of school suspension if your act continues. I might even call in Sheriff Grimes and the alternative school in Atlanta. You don’t want either of those.” Beth sighed and nodded, taking the form from his hand when he extended it to her before she stood. She understood why the man was reluctant to give her suspension out of the school or any form of major punishment. Her mother’s death and her suicide attempt afterwards. The man walked on eggshells around her now, it annoyed the blonde more than Duane’s constant instigating.

“I understand, Mr. P. I’ll do my best. I hope you give Duane suspension too, he started all of it.” Beth pointed out before leaving his office. She almost collided with an older man with a beer belly who reeked of alcohol as she stepped out of the office but a quick sidestep saved her. The older man turned a rude glare on her before his eyes moved up and down her body, making her narrow her eyes in return. Her blue eyes settled on a tall, dark haired teenage boy behind the man who was staring at her and she felt a weird tightening in her stomach when their eyes met. His blue eyes were bright and, dare she say it, gorgeous to look at. The boy looked away once their eyes met and she snapped out of her trance and walked around them. Her eyes took in Duane sitting in one of the chairs in the office, a tissue crumpled under his nose and she smiled sweetly at him, it growing when her smile was returned with a glare.

“Okay, looks like your information is all here. Here is your class schedule, Mr. Dixon. I’ll see if I can get someone to come show you to your first class,” Beth overheard from Mrs. Blake. She heard the older man grunt something crude and leave. Beth thought about offering to take this new kid for a tour but decided she didn’t want to walk some poor kid around the school. She would much rather be in her History class talking with Carl than lead some piece of fresh meat around.

“See you around, Duane!” She cheerily said in farewell. The boy jumped up and grabbed her arm.

“This ain’t done, Greene,” he threatened. His hand was yanked off her arm and Beth turned to see the new kid standing there, glaring at Duane. “Hey, man, this don’t concern you any.”

“Mr. Jones! Get in here,” Mr. Porter yelled and Duane pulled his hand free from the new kid’s and stomped off. Beth looked at the new kid, their blue eyes meeting before she glanced over his appearance. He had a goatee and his hair was slightly long, the tips ending around his ears and his bangs hanging down his forehead, almost to his eyebrows. He was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt that clung to a fit body (god, his shoulders and those arms! She thought with a light blush) with a leather vest over it and blue jeans that had obviously been mended a few times too many. His family must not have a lot of money, she thought but then her brain brought forth images of her favorite jeans and how holey they were now, or maybe those are just his favorite jeans.

“Thank you. I could have taken care of it, but thank you anyways.” The new kid nodded and looked at his shoes.

“Oh, uh…Mr. Dixon, why don’t you wait here, I’ll call someone else to take you down to your history class.” Mrs. Blake stared between the two and Beth smirked slightly. Is she worried I’ll beat up the new kid or something?

“Who’s your history class with?” Beth moved closer to this Dixon boy and looked at his schedule. They had all the same classes. “Its fine, Mrs. Blake, I’ll take him. We have classes together.” Mrs. Blake opened her mouth but Beth interrupted her, “chill out, Mrs. B. I won’t hit the new kid on his first day. Besides, he needs to do something to deserve it and he hasn’t. Unlike Duane in there. Come on,” Beth opened the office door to let the quiet teenager out and began leading the way to their classroom.

“My name’s Beth,” she told him.

“Daryl,” he muttered in return, his eyes flitting to hers. “That kid in there…you do that to him?” Beth smiled and nodded.

“Yup. He called my sister a drunk college whore. She’s none of those things. She’s a college graduate, and she drank some, who hasn’t these days? But she’s definitely not a drunk or a whore. Her and Glenn have been goin’ steady for years now and he’s the only guy she ever slept with. Don’t exactly make her a whore, ya know? Anywho, Duane and I get in fights a lot, mostly arguments; he’s a major ass. Thinks he’s all that and can say and do whatever he wants cuz he’s the town favorite in football.” Beth snapped her mouth shut when she realized she was rambling, something she never did. She frowned before her eyes moved up to Daryl’s and she found him smirking, his eyes bright with amusement. “What?”

“You always talk this much?” His voice was light, a small quirk to his lips

“You always so quiet, Dixon?”

“I’m an observer, not a talker,” he replied lightly.

“An observer, huh? So…what can you observe about me?” she turned and walked backwards, her smile turning sly when he chuckled slightly and looked her over. Normally she hated being stared at but a guy or seeing their eyes roam over her body, but something about Daryl made her like it. She enjoyed his attention. His blue eyes took in her long blonde hair in its ponytail with the small braid in it, her bright blue eyes that were lined heavily in liner making her eyes the first thing he wanted to look at, her straight, pearly white smile. His blue eyes moved down from her face, taking in the heart necklace she always wore, the plaid button up she had open and tied at her stomach with a blue crop top on underneath it, the mass of bangles and bracelets on her left wrist, her tight blue jean shorts that were shorter than the school dress code probably allowed, and dirty boots for working on the farm. His eyes then took in the bright pink of her fingernail polish and he smirked slightly when he saw her middle fingernails were painted black.

“Farm girl,” he started and Beth sighed, interrupting him with a roll of her eyes.

“The boots give that away, next.”

“I ain’t a damn trained monkey,” he told her, though his eyes displayed a mirth that his gruff voice didn’t show, and she laughed.

“You said you were an observer. Classify me as a farm girl, miss all the other important details. I wanted to know what you observed and thought about me but alright, I’ll leave it alone. This is our class anyways. History, the most fascinating class of your day. Mrs. Grimes is cool, though. Funny when she wants to be. Wife of the town sheriff.” Beth’s hand went to the classroom’s doorknob.

“Hey,” Daryl interrupted, his hand grabbing Beth’s arm softly, unlike the grip Duane had had on her earlier. He let her go as quickly as he had touched her, shaking his hand like he had been scalded, “what you did, defending your sister, hitting that guy, was good.” Beth snorted and gave an indifferent shake of her head while holding up her copy of the in-school-suspension form.

“My ISS paper says otherwise. My ears will be ringing with the screeching I’ll get at home...” Beth pulled the door open and the entire classroom turned to face the two students. Beth walked in, nonchalantly because this had happened before and Mrs. Grimes was almost used to the blonde being late or leaving early to skip, and went to a seat at the back of the room with an empty seat on her left and a thin boy with lengthy brown hair on her right. She gave him a high five, which prompted a scowl from Mrs. Grimes. Daryl, however, did not like the attention the class was giving him as he walked to the older woman and showed her his schedule. She gave him a bright smile and pointed to the empty chair.

“Go sit on back there with Beth, Daryl, we’re just beginning chapter two today.” Daryl nodded and went back to the empty seat beside Beth. Mrs. Grimes began her lecture over the chapter and Daryl found himself agreeing with Beth’s sarcasm. This was going to be the longest class of the day.

“Psst, hey,” Daryl turned and looked at Beth and the kid next to her. Beth smiled and nodded her head to the boy next to her, “this is Carl. Carl, Daryl.” Daryl tilted his head in greeting before looking at the blonde next to him, his thoughts returning to their conversation form the hall way. He had only just met the blonde but he found himself comfortable around her. She was gorgeous and she seemed to be pretty cool. She seemed stand-offish and like she wouldn’t take anyone’s shit. “You gonna keep starin’ at me, Dixon? Find me that mysterious or beautiful?” her teasing whisper cut through and he jumped slightly in surprise, his cheeks warming when he realized he had been caught staring.

“Nah,” he replied, turning his attention back to Mrs. Grimes who was still discussing whatever the topic of the chapter was. She had to be ignoring their conversation, there was no way she wasn’t hearing their whispers. The room was deathly silent and Beth wasn’t exactly keeping her whispers quiet.

“I need a smoke, you wanna come?” she asked him and he stared at her in surprise. She smokes too? He asked himself as he nodded. Beth smiled brightly and gathered up her books and standing. “Well, come on then, Dixon. Carl, you comin?”

“Absolutely,” the teenager replied as he too gathered his supplies and a leather jacket off the back of his desk. “You left this out in the hallway,” Carl explained as he handed the jacket over to the blonde.

“Ugh, you’re a life saver, Carl. See ya, Mrs. G!” Beth shouted as she walked out of the room. Daryl stood and silently followed the blonde with Carl behind him.

“Carl! You get back in here this instant!” Mrs. Grimes yelled as she followed him into the hallway.

“Sorry, mom, I’ll be back in a little bit!” Carl yelled back before exiting out the side doors at the end of the hall and holding it open for Daryl.

“I’m calling your father!” Carl heaved a sigh before letting the door shut and nodding at Daryl.

“That’s my mom,” he explained and Daryl nodded.

“You don’t really strike me as the kind of kid to not listen to their mom,” Daryl said as he followed Beth and Carl to the student parking lot.

“I used to listen to her, take everything she said as if it was the word from God himself,” Carl told him. “Then I caught her and my dad’s partner making googly eyes at each other. I guess I lost all the respect I had for her then.”

“Your dad’s the sheriff, ain’t he?” The three teenagers stopped between two motorcycles, Beth putting all of her books in the backpack hanging from one before pulling out a box of cigarettes and a light. Daryl leaned against the other motorcycle, stroking the handlebars affectionately.

“Yea, he is. Whoa, is this your bike?” Carl asked as he looked at the motorcycle Daryl was leaning against. Daryl nodded and Beth’s eyes widened in awe, her hands almost dropping her cigarettes and lighter.

“Is that a Triumph Scrambler?!” she asked as she walked the few feet from her bike to look over his in awe. His eyes settled on her bike and he felt his jaw slacken.

“You’re in awe of my bike when you own a Bonneville?!” Beth met his eyes and the two stood in between their bikes, staring each other down. Their eyes wide and excited. A whistle from Carl made them break their gaze and they looked over at him.

“Could cut through that sudden sexual tension with a knife! Who knew talking about motorcycles would rev Beth’s sexual engine?” Carl raised his hand with a smirk. “Pun intended, by the way.” Beth blushed and refocused on lighting a cigarette before passing one to Daryl and handing him her lighter. Carl shook his head when Daryl offered him one. “I don’t smoke ‘em, I just like to come out here and chat with Beth whenever she does.”

“May I?” Beth asked Daryl, gesturing at his bike. He nodded and watched as she swung her leg over and sat on the seat of his Scrambler, testing her balance on it before laying across the top of it and staring up at Daryl. “Can I ride your bike sometime?” she asked with a smirk, fully aware of the sexual innuendo in what she said. Daryl moved the leather jacket Beth had dropped on the seat of her bike before he slung his leg over and sat, loving the feel of the blonde’s bike and thinking of how comfortable it must be to ride on. He took a long drag from his cigarette, watching as Beth did the same on his bike, her eyes bright with a flirtatious glint to them. Damn, he thought as he looked at the petite blonde in her crop top and shorts on his bike.

“You can ride it anytime you want, babe,” he flirted back, surprising himself. Normally, he felt incredibly awkward around women and would stutter or struggle to find his words but something about this blonde and the flirtatious look she was giving him had broken that. Beth’s eyes widened before she let out a laugh.

“Damn,” Carl muttered as he looked between the two. “I’m getting the feeling of being the third wheel here. Why’d Amy have to be sick today? Why don’t I leave you two alone to get on each other’s bike or whatever and take care of some of this sexual tension…” Carl’s eyes lifted from the two and widened slightly at the sight of the sheriff’s police car pulling in. “Hey, look! Dad’s here.” Beth winked at Daryl before facing the car as it came to a stop in front of them.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chappy is dedicated to ultra-blondiee on tumblr because she recs this fic on her blog and is wonderful enough to tag me in it so that people know who I wrote it and everything and she seems to really enjoy it!
> 
> It also goes out to my friend Morgan, who created an amazing photoset to go with this story and you can find it on tumblr! I just love it so much!!
> 
> The song below is “Undigested Lump” by Hank Green/Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers.
> 
> I was planning on making this chappy longer but I decided to split it…Sorry.
> 
> I should warn that this chappy does have mentions of domestic abuse, drugs, underaged drinking, and calculus (math needs to have a warning for me…it makes me so dang angry).

**Chapter Two –**

                  “Hey, Mr. Grimes!” Beth waved to the man as he climbed out of his patrol car. He gave the blonde a tight smile as he approached, his hand going to hers and taking the cigarette from her and dropping it to the ground and stomping on it. A brief look of shame covered the blonde’s face and Daryl wondered about the relationship Beth had with Carl’s family if she looked so upset over making Carl’s father as frustrated as he looked.

                  “You must be Daryl,” the sheriff approached him and took his cigarette from him as well, stomping on it before holding his hand out to shake Daryl’s. A flash of a memory of his father’s hand rising to hit him that morning crossed Daryl’s mind and he flinched away from the sheriff, almost tripping over his own feet in the process. A look of sudden shock and understanding crossed the older man’s face and Daryl felt shame and anger course through his body. “Dixon, right?” the older man asked and Daryl’s shame grew because _of course_ the town sheriff knew of his father’s anger and abuse and _of course_ he had met Merle Dixon, town juvie turned prisoner in the nearest prison.

The sheriff turned away from Daryl to focus on all three of them. The look in the older man’s eyes filled Daryl with a strange feeling of guilt, making Daryl frown. He had only known the blonde for less than an hour but he had already felt a weird attraction and connection to her, skipped out of class to go for a smoke with her and Carl and now he was feeling guilty for doing those things because of a man he had just met? What the hell was wrong with him?

                  “There’s no smoking on school grounds and you’re not 18 years of age so you should not legally have these. I’m going to pretend I didn’t see these and you three are going to return to class. Beth, I will be joining you at home for a conversation with your father about this morning. You need to straighten up, right now. You hear me?” Daryl could see Beth’s shoulders sag and she nodded, her gaze going to her feet. The sheriff nodded before facing his son, who visibly gulped.

“And you,” Rick pointed at Carl, “we are going to discuss how you acted with you treated your mother at home.” He held up his hand as Beth and Carl both opened their mouths to argue or groan and they snapped their mouths shut.

                  “Not. Another. Word. Go, all of you, back to class.” Daryl watched as Beth practically bolted back to her bike for her books and to the doors of the school building, leaving the two boys behind. He stared after her before glancing at Carl. The two boys calmly walked back to the school, occasionally looking over their shoulder to see if Rick was still watching them, which he was.

                  “Beth is pretty close to my parents,” Carl started, “not that she isn’t close to her father, she is…but my dad…our parents are close, always have been. We grew up together, she sees my parents as her adopted parents.” Carl sighed, “it isn’t my place to explain anything but some shit went down three years ago and my parents saved her. They saved her life. Beth tries to do right by them because of it.”

                  “Why does she skip class and treat your mom like she did if she tries to do right by them?” Daryl asked as they entered the school building.

                  “Mother Greene used to tell everyone it’s because ‘Beth is a wildfire.’ She never elaborated, people seemed to understand what she was saying though I think they understood it in a way that was incorrect. The few times I was around when Annette said that, people always told her “I’m sorry, at least Shawn and Maggie are controllable. Beth must be such a handful,” but that isn’t what I think Annette meant. She never corrected them but if you looked close enough, you could see a frustration in her eyes. I always took her words to mean that she was fierce, and she is, and Annette never corrected me either...Guess we’ll never know what she meant by it now…” Carl opened the door to their class and walked in, leaving Daryl standing in the hallway.

                  Shock coursed through Daryl’s system when he realized what Carl was meaning. Annette Greene was dead. He caught the door before it closed and his eyes immediately went to the blonde in the back of the room. Her head was bent over her notebook as she wrote and Daryl wondered if Beth would be the girl she was today if her mother was still around. He walked to the back of the room and took his seat beside Beth and forced his attention to stay on the lesson Mrs. Grimes was giving. Ten minutes later, the bell rang for the end of class and the room emptied, leaving Daryl, Beth, and Carl behind. Daryl could hear the other hundred or so students moving around the hallways like a herd of buffalo and he let out a sigh.

                  “See you later, Mrs. G,” Beth mumbled before she left the room and Daryl followed her, glancing at his schedule.

                  “We have calculus next; it’s at the other end of the hall,” the blonde told him and he nodded as he followed her through the halls.

                  “Greene!” a voice yelled in anger and Beth stopped walking, her shoulders tense as she turned to face Duane. “I got ISS tomorrow cuz of you!” the teen yelled and Beth laughed.

                  “You got ISS because you instigated a fight and were a bully,” she yelled back before turning and sauntering down the hall. Daryl, however, couldn’t help but feel the need to continue watching the football player. If the teen even so much as moved an inch towards Beth, Daryl would be there to stop him. His thoughts turned to the image of his mother, who was probably high or drunk, maybe even both, by now, at home with his shit for brains father. He thought back to the night before, when she had actually been sober enough to complete his school paperwork and smile at him.

                  _“You finish school now, you hear me? You finish and graduate this year. You do better than this, than me and your pa.”_ Those small moments where he actually saw and felt what a mother was supposed to be were so few and far between that Daryl normally felt torn about them. On one side, there was the child in him that needed and wanted his mother, the part that basked in the love and support she would give him. On the other, there was the part of him that knew this would be a brief moment and then she’d go right back to not caring if his father whipped him due to her being drunk or high. This part of him looked at the small motherly moments bitterly. Daryl’s father had entered the room then and had tried to give his mother a beating for insinuating that Daryl was better than he was. The teen had stopped his father from beating her, which nearly resulted in the beating being put on him had his father not stumbled and knocked himself out in his drunken stupor.

                  The point of Daryl’s thoughts came to the fact that he firmly believed that no one should ever hit a girl. The thought of the angry, bulky teenager that is Duane hitting Beth made Daryl’s blood boil. The football player could easily mess up Beth. He nearly doubled the blonde’s height and size.

                  “He won’t do anything, Daryl. He’s got a football game coming up and the coach won’t let him play if he’s in trouble. He only got ISS for tomorrow, which won’t affect his ability to play in this weekend’s game, but if he tries anything else, Mr. Porter will have to give him a more severe punishment, which would affect him playing this weekend. Point is, he’s not going to do anything else.” Beth had turned and was looking at the younger Dixon as she called down the hall to him. Daryl glanced briefly at Duane before turning and walking down to where Beth stood outside their next class.

                  “I hate calculus,” she told him as she entered the classroom. “I’m only in here because of Carl. He wanted to take the class so we both enrolled in it.”

                  Daryl found he liked calculus. He understood it and could make sense with it. It was obvious, though, that Beth was not quite so skilled at it. She was tense and frequently sighing in frustration or chewing on her pencil in confusion as she attempted to work through the problems their teacher assigned. Carl sat beside Daryl and kept glancing at the blonde.

                  “She gets good grades, but math takes her longer to understand than anything else,” Carl explained, making Beth snap her head to look around Daryl and glare at him.

                  “Hey, I’m not mathematically smart like you are! I’m really trying here and would appreciate you shutting up about me!” she whispered angrily, her hair a mess from her constantly running her hands through it in her frustration. Daryl found frustrated Beth to be strangely attractive and amusing. He leaned over to look at her work and easily found a mistake she had made. He tapped the mistake with his pencil and she eyed the problem before groaning and slumping on top of her desk, her forehead making a loud _thump_ against the wood.

                  Their teacher continued to ignore the whispering of the students as they worked and Daryl felt his frustration with the staff growing. Did any of the teachers care about their students’ success?

                  “I can’t do this,” Beth whispered against the tabletop and Daryl fought hard to keep his chuckle form escaping.

                  “Yea, ya can,” he told her and she tilted her head to look at him, her eyebrow arched in a “you’re shitting me” look. “You can. Look at that part of the problem…” Beth sat up with a sigh, a crease forming in her forehead as she looked at the problem. Daryl walked her through the problem and he could see her face light up with each passing moment. The two worked through the remaining problems until she could solve them by herself and the three of them turned in the assignment in time for class to end. Beth hugged Daryl tightly, her eyes beaming up at him despite feeling him tense in her arms.

                  “Thank you for your help,” she said and he nodded, his hand finding her elbow as she held him. She smiled brightly at him before her eyes went to Carl who was looking outside the classroom.

                  “Uh…Jimmy’s out in the hall, Beth,” he told her and Beth instantly let go of Daryl. She turned and picked her books up off of the desk behind her and quickly walked out into the hall. “Jimmy gets jealous easily…” Carl explained to Daryl as they watched Beth approach the tall teen, who did not look too pleased with the blonde.

                  “They dating?” Daryl asked as the two boys left the classroom to go to the lunchroom.

                  “Unfortunately. I’m not sure why, he’s a bit of a douche,” Carl growled out and Daryl looked at him in surprise at his tone. A sigh left the Grimes boy as he set his books down on a table. “He just gets jealous easily. He hates that Beth is friends with me, a guy, even though I was here first and we’re more like siblings than anything else. He is also _very_ pushy. Like, he wants to do _it_ with Beth and she’s not ready yet. It leads to a lot of fights between them. I know that that is TMI and all that but I figured it’s best to warn you now. They argue about it a lot so you’re bound to experience that joy soon enough.”

                  “Then why is she dating him?”

                  “ _That_ is the question I’ve been asking for the past three months that they have been dating. You’d have to ask her, maybe she’d explain it to you. She just blows it off whenever I ask.” Beth approached alone with a huff before plopping unceremoniously in the seat across from the two boys.

                  “He’s mad, like usual. So, what are we doing for food?” she asked and Carl shook his head.

                  “Somewhere with French fries,” he replied, accepting the topic change. Daryl shrugged. He didn’t really have the money for lunch and was just planning on staying at the school but he had the sense to know that Beth and Carl probably wouldn’t let him do that.

                  “If we leave campus, I’m not coming back. I’ll go to Carol’s,” the blonde told them and Carl frowned.

                  “Dad said to straighten up. Going to Carol’s and drinking isn’t doing what he said,” he reminded her and Beth sighed.

                  “I know but…I’ll straighten up after I’ve served my week’s time in ISS. I won’t get to leave campus for lunch tomorrow, so we need to do so today.”

                  “You can go without me, then,” Carl told her as he stood and headed to buy food from the cafeteria. Beth sighed and pouted at Daryl who just blinked back at her before shrugging.

                  “Ugh, fine. Come on then, Dixon, let’s go get school food. I owe you for helping me with calc this morning.” Daryl shook his head.

                  “Nah, I’m good. It was nothin.”

                  “Fine, then I’ll just buy you one of everything in there,” Beth turned and walked away. Daryl heaved a sigh before standing and following her. Beth grabbed them both a tray and piled hers with a cheeseburger, French fries, and various sweets. When Daryl tried to get out of the line with only a burger, Beth made him turn back and grab more.

                  “So, you two have been talking about me, I’m sure,” Beth glared at Carl, who stuck his tongue out at her while having a mouthful of food. Beth made a face at the sight of his chewed up food and threw an empty wrapper at him. “Gross, Carl!” She turned her attention back to Daryl. “Tell us about yourself, Dixon.” Daryl snorted and shrugged nonchalantly.

                  “Aw, come on. You know so much about us,” Beth whined and Carl threw the wrapper back at her.

                  “Stop being petulant,” he told her. Beth threw the wrapper back at him.

                  “We’re seventeen, we’re allowed to be petulant every once in a while.”

                  “There’s nothin’ to tell,” Daryl told her and Beth scoffed.

                  “Sure there is. You’re what, seventeen years old? There’s seventeen years worth of stuff to tell.” Daryl thought back to what he could remember of the past seventeen years. Fights, beatings, DHS visits that ended in more beatings, a brother who was never home to help him after he turned eighteen almost ten years ago, constant school transfers, and more pain and disappointment then any child should have in their life.

                  “None of it’s worth sharing,” he told the two. Beth’s hand touched his gently and he looked at her over his meal.

                  “It’s all worth sharing,” she corrected him. Normally, Daryl would feel anger at someone for pushing into his personal life like she was but the blonde was something else, something oddly bright and calm in his chaotic life. “Alright, fine. You have any siblings?” she asked and Daryl nodded.

                  “A brother. Merle.”

                  “Older or younger?” Carl piped in around his bite of a burger, making Beth grumble about how someone needs to reteach the teen table manners.

                  “Ten years older. This gonna turn into some interrogation?” Daryl growled out after swallowing the food in his mouth and Beth gestured to Carl.

                  “Why can’t you do that? Swallow, then speak.”

                  “Because I know it bothers you and I don’t want into your pants,” Carl answered, intentionally stuffing more food in his mouth as he spoke, his words making Daryl choke on a french fry.

                  “You don’t want into them because you have Amy. Besides, you’re practically my brother, it’d be like incest if you did.” Beth retorted, ignoring the blush on her cheeks and Daryl’s sputtering. A blush formed on Carl’s cheeks at the mention of him having Amy and he quickly shoved more food into his mouth.

                  “What do you do for fun, Daryl?” Beth asked, turning her attention from Carl to the still sputtering teen. “Do you hunt, go camping, swimming, play video games?”

                  “I hunt and camp but it ain’t for fun.”

                  “Have you ever played Xbox?” the blonde asked, a knowing look briefly passing through her eyes at his answer. Daryl could feel agitation growing in his stomach and he shook his head. Of course the blonde would see and understand that he had to hunt for food so that he didn’t starve. She seemed to be more perceptive than the others around them.

                  “We love playing Xbox, maybe you could join us sometime?” Beth suggested. Carl nodded enthusiastically and Daryl shrugged.

                  “Guess so,” he replied, making the two friends smile brightly.

                  “Good. We’re gonna be crashing at Carl’s this weekend, as long as my ISS thing doesn’t end in me being grounded by my dad,” Beth frowned and Carl snorted.

                  “You know that won’t happen.”

                  “It has before!” Beth countered and Carl shrugged.

                  “Your dad’s let you come over when you were grounded before. I’m sure that if you get grounded, he’ll still let you join us. Besides, if it comes down to it, you’ve snuck out before…what’s one more time?” Beth chuckled.

                  “This coming from the one who was telling me to ‘straighten up’ a little while ago? Will you make up your mind on whether or not you want me to clean up my act or keep going the way I am?” Beth shot an exasperated look at Daryl before rolling her eyes and finishing her burger. The rest of lunch went by quickly with the two friends telling Daryl more about themselves and him sharing a few small stories about himself.

                  After lunch, the three teens headed to English. It was clear from the moment the three of them walked into their English classroom that the teacher was not fond of Beth or Carl and when she saw Daryl join them at their table, she instantly seemed to dislike him as well. Neither Beth nor Carl could explain why the woman disliked them but it was evident that _something_ had to have happened to make the woman so disdainful.

                  “I’ve got it all planned out,” Beth whispered to Daryl and Carl during a group discussion of part of Shakespeare’s _Hamlet_ they were studying. “I wrote a song that is nothing but insults from various plays by Shakespeare. It’s a coincidence that we’re reading one of his plays in class…I’m honestly just waiting for the shit to hit the fan somewhere so that I can break out into song with it. It’ll be glorious.”

                  “Nothing but Shakespearean insults?” Daryl asked. He smirked, “you better have “a carcass fit for hounds” from _Julius Caesar_ and “the emptiest vessel makes the greatest sounds” from his _Henry V._ ” Daryl whispered back, his smirk growing at the mention of the two lines. Beth’s eyes widened and she quickly wrote the two quotes down on a piece of paper that looked to have the song lyrics written on it. “How could you _not_ have those two in a song of insults from his plays? They’re the best,” he felt astounded that she had left those two off of her song. He truly liked those lines out of all of the plays he had read in high school.

“I don’t know, I guess they slipped from my mind. They truly are fantastic and they fit into the song really well. Do you guys want to read it?” Beth slid the paper with the song lyrics on it over to him so that he could read it. Carl leaned over to read over his shoulder.

_Well I got a lot of things I'd like to say to you._ __  
And also just a few I'd like to actually do,  
But I don't want to go to jail,  
And sometimes my words fail,  
And I don't want to let the worst parts of me prevail.  
Saying what's on my mind for me has always been hard  
So I'm gonna leave this to the words of the bard!  
  
Get out of my sight thou dost infect my eyes!  
Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice?  
Thou hast the most unsavory similes.  
Thy tongue out venoms all the worms of Nile.  
Injurious,  
Tedious,  
You botcher's apprentice,  
Remorseless,  
Treacherous,  
Lecherous stock fish!  
I scorn you, Scurvy companion,  
Thou misshappen dick. Thou bitch-wolf's son.  
  
Oh hell must be empty, cause the devil is here  
I've been memorizing Shakespeare for nigh on a year,  
So I was ready for this.  
After what you did,  
You'll be lucky if you leave here and you still exist.  
You never knew when to shut it, you carcass fit for hounds.  
It's the emptiest vessel that makes the loudest sounds!  
  


_Get out of my sight thou dost infect my eyes!_ _  
Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice?_

_Thou hast the most unsavory similes._ __  
Thy tongue out venoms all the worms of Nile.  
Injurious,  
Tedious,  
You botcher's apprentice,  
Remorseless,  
Treacherous,  
Lecherous stock fish!  
Thou one-trunk inheriting slave  
You are not worth another word, else I'd call you  
I'd call you a knave.

                  “I had just been missing the part you gave me, Daryl. Now, it’s perfect. Don’t you think so?” Beth’s voice was rising in her excitement. Daryl and Carl both snorted in laughter at the lyrics and fought to stifle the sound as they nodded.

                  “Ms. Greene! Passing notes in class is childish and disrespectful,” their teacher scolded and Beth could barely contain her giggles at the idea that they were passing notes and getting into trouble when they had been blatantly talking to each other without consequence for most of the class period. “I demand you share the contents of your note.” Daryl could not believe his ears. Beth could barely contain herself as she stood from her chair and faced their teacher.

                  “I can’t believe this is happening,” Carl whispered. “Are we seriously going to get to bear witness to the prestigious moment? I for sure thought that she would never get the opportunity to sing this, let alone we get to hear and see it outselves…” Beth cleared her throat and glanced back to the two boys before singing the song. She had clearly practiced singing it before as she hit the notes and beats of the song perfectly, or at least it sounded perfect to Daryl’s ears. Their entire class ended up in fits of laughter when they realized what the words she was singing were and their teacher became red in the face as her anger grew. Beth sang the last word and bowed to their class as they all erupted into cheers and applause.

                  Their teacher seemed too angry to form words as she gestured wildly for the blonde to leave the room right as the bell rang to signal the end of the class period. Beth turned to the two boys and the three friends began laughing and celebrating as they left the room and headed to their last class of the day, Zoology.

                  “That….” Daryl shook his head, “had to have been the best thing I’ve ever witnessed.” His blue eyes met Beth’s and she smiled brightly, her free hand going to his and squeezing it. Daryl looked at their linking hands in surprise. He had never held hands with someone before. Hell, he couldn’t recall the last time he had laughed as hard as he had during the few hours he had known Beth Greene and Carl Grimes. He felt like he had known them for much longer than the four or five hours and he wondered what it would be like to have this all the time. He found himself imagining a life where he could escape his father and mother to hang out with Beth and Carl after school and on the weekends. A life full of laughter and friends instead of beatings, drunken insults, and a family that cared more about their booze and drugs then they did about their own sons.

                  To be honest, Daryl had only planned on coming to school until Merle came back from where ever he was, and then he was going to leave with his brother and never come back. Now, though, he couldn’t help but think that he could do this. He could come to school everyday, spend time with Beth and Carl and forget about the hell he lived in.

                  “You know, no offense to Beth or anything, but I’m glad she hasn’t scared you off, yet, Dixon.” Carl told Daryl from his position at Beth’s right. Beth looked at Carl, her expression one of confusion. “Well, think about it, Beth. We’ve been friends for a long time. Sometimes we have really lame conversations because we know everything about each other. It’s honestly been a long time since we had a day like today. All I’m saying is that something was missing from our friendship and I honestly believe it was Daryl.” Carl’s eyes suddenly widened and his smile split into a Cheshire cat grin. “We could come up with a nickname for ourselves. Ya know how Harry, Ron, and Hermione are ‘the Golden Trio?’ We could call ourselves something like that. Like the ‘Three Stooges,’ ya know?” Daryl laughed and Beth joined in.

                  “Except we don’t do stupid things like the Stooges do and we’re not twelve year old girls who have and name a secret club.”

                  “Aw, don’t be so harsh on Carl, Daryl. He always wanted a secret clubhouse and who are we to take that dream away from him,” Beth teased and Carl smacked her arm playfully.

                  “Fine, be jerks about it. I’m just saying, we could be the Troublesome Trio or something. It could be a fun thing.” Carl opened the classroom door and held it for the other two before entering behind them. Beth gestured to a table of four and the three friends claimed their seats.

                  “Get ready for the best class of the day. Seriously, this is my favorite. Dissections and studying animals. I never thought I’d like it but it’s definitely something I’m looking into for college. Maybe I’ll be a vet like my dad.”

                  “You should go into singing,” Daryl suggested, his cheeks warming slightly. “You can sing really well.”

                  “I’ve thought about it. Singing is much more of a hobby for me. I don’t know if I could do it as a career, ya know? Have you two figured out what you’re going to do after we escape this hell hole?” Daryl sighed and looked at his desk. He had never thought about his future. He had never really thought he had one. There wasn’t a single Dixon that had finished high school that he knew of and before today, he had figured he would just follow the path that his family had taken and drop out. He would never fall into drugs or alcoholism like the rest of his family but he couldn’t see himself doing any certain career. He was good with cars and motorcycles, but he didn’t want to become a mechanic.

                  “I’ve thought about going into law enforcement like my dad,” Carl admitted. “At the same time, though, I don’t want to do that. I’m still undecided, I think. I’ll probably just play around with majors and degrees in college until I find one I like.” Beth nodded and glanced at Daryl, who cleared his throat awkwardly and shrugged.

                  “Never thought about it,” he mumbled.

                  “Well, we’ll have to help you with it. We’ll have to help each other. We’re the Undecided Three! We have no clue where we’re going or what we’re doing with our lives, but we’re going to figure it out together!” Beth put her hand in the center of the table and Carl slapped his on top of hers.

                  “Together.” Daryl stared at their hands before hesitantly placing his on top of their pile. Their friendship almost seemed too good to be true to him. The two teens had become a freight train in his life, slamming into him and taking him completely by surprise, flipping his whole world upside down. Just that morning, he had been in a dark place, contemplating dropping out and running away and living a drifter’s life, following Merle everywhere he went. He had been thinking about how he wouldn’t be able to pass the advanced courses he had signed up for, how he was going to be worthless and a nobody in the school. How awkward and just genuinely terrible he was going to feel about the whole being the new kid situation in a small town school. But Beth and Carl had changed all of that in such a short time.

                  And he was honestly okay with it.

                  “Together,” he repeated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This felt damn near impossible to write. I cried a lot while writing it. My sister was my inspiration for writing and often helped me with writer's block whenever she could. I can't believe it has been 60 days since her passing…
> 
> This chapter, and everything else I write from this point on, is written in her honor.
> 
> It is also written in thanks to you all. Over the past 60 days, I have received so many lovely messages that have given me strength and I am so grateful. Thank you all for your support, love, and understanding. I can't promise that updates will be frequent but they will happen eventually.
> 
> This chapter was hard for me to write and it feels like I've rushed it but this is the best I got right now…
> 
> Trigger warnings for suicidal thoughts and depression. Also, not terribly detailed or graphic discussions of dissecting frogs in the character's Zoology class.
> 
> Without further ado:

**Bad Girl, Beth - Chapter 3 –**

"Good afternoon, guys," the teacher greeted as the bell rang and the last student entered. The large black man stepped to the front of the classroom and gave high fives to those along the front of the room. His eyes met Daryl's and he waved, "you can call me Tyreese, Daryl. Welcome to Zoology!" Beth smiled at Daryl as she opened her spiral notebook. Tyreese brought a spare spiral to the group of friends and gave it to Daryl. He nodded his appreciation and opened it to the first page. The class quickly took off, reviewing the newest species the class had discussed the week before and Daryl did his best to keep up, jotting down notes.

It was obvious to the young hunter that this was Beth's favorite class as she focused solely on the notes and diagrams Tyreese was showing them on the projector. Carl seemed to be out of his comfort zone in the class and he even turned a little green at the mention of a surprise dissection.

"We got our first animal to dissect Friday after school and I want to get right to it so today we are going to dissect….anyone want to take a guess of what we will be dissecting?" Tyreese clapped his hands in his enthusiasm. Beth glanced down at her notebook and raised her hand. "Yes, Beth?"

"Are we dissecting a frog?"

"A what?" Tyreese asked with a smile. Beth huffed a chuckle and looked back at her notes.

"Are we dissecting a Rana…Cates…beiana?" she asked, stuttering over the scientific name of the American Bullfrog.

"What makes you think that?" Tyreese asked with a smile.

"Because it's what we are learning about right now?" she replied, though her uncertainty made her answer come out as a question.

"Yes! You are absolutely correct, we will be dissecting a Rana Catesbeiana, or an American Bullfrog! Now, I've been explaining the process and procedures for performing dissections for the past couple of weeks but when we go into the lab, it is still important that you listen and follow directions. Now, I'm going to let you pick your partners in the lab for today but next time, I'll have assigned partners for everyone. I am going to assign Beth, Daryl, and Carl into one group because we have an odd number now and need a group of three. So, quickly break into your partners and then come into the lab!" Tyreese led the way through a door at the back of the room as Beth, Carl, and Daryl stood to follow.

"Have you ever dissected something before?" Beth asked Daryl and he shook his head.

"I hunt. Reckon it can't be that different from skinning an animal and gutting a kill," he replied. Beth nodded as the group went to a lab station in the far corner of the room.

"I'd reckon not, since you want to be careful when you're gutting an animal that you don't knick the stomach and other organs, right?" She looked at their tray of tools and inspected the scalpel. "I helped Daddy with a couple of surgeries but I never held the scalpel in one so this will be my first dissection. Can I be the one to cut it open?"

"Keep your eye on Greene there, Grimes!" a boy shouted from across the lab. Beth stiffened and the group of three looked over to the boy. "Make sure she doesn't start playing the little violin again!" The boy made an exaggerated gesture across his left wrist and the clatter of the scalpel falling to the floor was the only sound in the room. A hand on Daryl's arm made him realize he was moving and he stopped mid-step to look at the small hand that was holding his forearm. His eyes took in the bright pink nail polish on four of the hand's fingers and the black middle finger's polish before moving to the mass of bangles and bracelets that covered the left wrist. He followed the arm up to Beth's face, which was paler than it had been moments before.

"Not worth the ISS, Daryl…" she muttered. Daryl ripped his arm out of her grasp and turned to resume his march over to the teenager but his anger dissipated at the sight of Tyreese dragging the boy out of the room. The lab was filled with a tense silence as Beth bent to pick up the scalpel she dropped, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

"Can't believe that guy," Carl muttered angrily, "making fun of that day…" Beth shrugged tensely, her eyes looking at the scalpel in her hand before she held it out for Daryl or Carl to take. Daryl eyed the blade before shaking his head and gently folding her fingers around the handle. Beth's eyes stayed focused on his and she felt a tightening in her stomach at the feel of his rough hand on hers.

If he knew anything about her past, he wouldn't let her keep the scalpel. He'd take it from her and keep her under close scrutiny like everyone else did. Her blue eyes moved to Carl's, a pleading look hidden in their depths, but he too shook his head.

 _It'd be easy,_  she thought,  _as easy as it was that day three years ago. Just slice it, Beth…_ The blonde shook her head and the voice went quiet. Despite three years having passed, that voice was always there in her head telling her to end it. Beth's eyes began to tear up and she blinked rapidly with a soft curse to clear them before leaning over the dead frog on the tray in front of her and lowering the scalpel shakily to rest the tip of the blade against the frog's skin.

"Beth," Daryl's soft voice cut through the heartbeat drumming in the blonde's ears and she looked up at him, her hand holding the scalpel out for him to take. He shook his head no again before stepping to be on her right, his hand going to hers and positioning the scalpel. Carl moved to her left and watched as the two began to cut the frog open. Daryl paused and pointed out the lungs to Carl and Beth and the two listened intently and filled out the diagram they had been given by Tyreese.

"You finish cutting it open," the hunter instructed to Beth and she nodded, her nerves and anxiety gone after getting a feel of how much pressure she needed to use to cut through the frog's skin, "just because not to cut too deeply. We need to be able to identify the reproductive organs." The blonde let out a deep breath, glanced at Carl (who was turning green and looking uncomfortable at the dissected frog in front of him), and turned her blue eyes back to the frog in front of her and cut it open the rest of the way.

"Umm…" the blonde looked closely at the organs of the frog and frowned. "Our frog is a male…and I think I just cut the penis…" Out of the corner of Beth's eyes, she saw both teenaged boys beside her shift uncomfortably at her words and smiled.

* * *

"That wasn't so bad…" Beth admitted to the two boys walking beside her in the crowded hallway.

"Speak for yourself," Carl muttered, "I'm not going to be able to eat dinner tonight.."

"Why, are you guys having frog legs for dinner?" the blonde asked, her teasing tone making Daryl's lips quirk.

"I hope not…" Carl groaned as the three walked out of the school and towards Beth and Daryl's motorcycles. "We have to go straight home, Beth," the Grimes boy reminded the blonde as he climbed on the back of her bike and she sighed heavily.

"I know…" her blue eyes lifted and met Daryl's. "It was good to meet you, Daryl. Will we see you tomorrow?" The question surprised the youngest Dixon son and he stared at their feet and remembered back to that morning when he had first walked into the school with his dumbass father.

 _I'm only going to be here for a short time,_ he had thought.  _I'll just skip most days until Merle gets out and then I'm gone._

Now, however, he had no desire to skip or leave with Merle. The mere thought of not seeing the two teens in front of him tomorrow, or ever again for that matter, set a heavy feeling in his gut. It was a feeling similar to the one he had at the thought of having to return home to his drunken parents.

"Don't you have ISS? Will we still be able to hang out?" the hunter asked and Beth shrugged.

"ISS isn't binding…"

"That means she'll sneak out," Carl interpreted. "She always does. It's really easy to do…The teacher who is in charge of ISS doesn't care if you stay in there all day. It's basically a way to get out of being in class and doing nothing all day, which is fun for the first hour but incredibly boring after that…" the young Grimes boy's words made Daryl's heart leap. Even with Beth being in ISS, the chances he'd still get to see her weren't as dreadful as he had originally thought.

"I think I can give this place another day," he replied as nonchalantly as he could, adding a shrug to try and add to his appearance of indifference, making Beth smile.  _Figures she would see through it_ , he thought to himself before raising his eyes to meet hers again. The sight of her standing before him, her blonde hair a shining halo had his stomach full of a weird, apprehensive feeling he had never felt before.

"Great, I'll…we'll see you tomorrow, then!" the blonde handed her helmet to Carl and straddled her bike, her eyes staying on Daryl's with a flirtatious smile on her face. She winked at him as she started her bike and revved the engine and backing out of her parking spot. Carl waved his farewell before wrapping his arms around the blonde's waist and the two took off leaving Daryl with a sudden, tense feeling he would later recognize as jealousy.

* * *

The blonde dropped Carl off at his house and waved to Lori as she climbed out of her car. The front door of the house opened and revealed the babysitter who carried a smiling and laughing baby Judith. Beth smiled brightly at the sight of the baby. She had the urge to turn off her bike and go coddle the young girl but she knew that Rick and her father were waiting for her to get home to have their discussion.

 _A "Coming to Jesus" talk, I'm sure…_ she thought as she sped away from the Grimes home. The blonde ignored speed limit signs as she raced down back roads to get to her home.

Her bike roared down the gravel driveway that led to the Greene Farm and she let out a curse at the sight of Maggie's truck parked between her father's and Rick's vehicles. The closer she got to the house, the better she could see a fuming Maggie and her father sitting on the patio with Rick, the two already deep in discussion.

"BETH GREENE, GET OFF THAT BIKE AND GET OVER HERE!" she heard Maggie screech over the rumble of her bike's engine. "DO YOU REALIZE HOW ASHAMED OF YOU MAMA WOULD BE? WHAT SORTA NONSENSE HAS YOU THINKIN' THAT GETTIN' IN A FIGHT IS OKAY? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN TREAT LORI THAT WAY?" the words set Beth's blood on fire and her bike's brakes struggled on the gravel as she slammed to a stop.

"Maggie, that's not helping," the blonde could hear her father reprimand before she revved and spun her bike and sped back down the driveway. She furiously blinked tears out of her eyes as she sped blindly down the road away from her family farm and back into town. Beth's heart stuttered in her chest when her eyes fell on the supermarket and a flash of her mother walking out of the store crossed her mind. A lump formed in her throat and she pushed a swallow passed it before turning and speeding down another road. Another store and another memory of her mother later and the blonde was pulled over, sobs tearing their way out of her chest, up her throat, and boiling down her cheeks.

"Mama…I…" she choked out before biting her tongue.  _Stop crying, Beth…we don't get to be upset._ The blonde took a deep breath and held it, forcing her tears to subside. "I'm sorry, Mama, I'm sorry for what I did three years ago and I hope you'll forgive me…"

"Where would she go?" Maggie asked, her tone sharp and full of anger. "Call Carl and ask him."

"That's not necessary, I think I have a general idea of where she is," Rick stood with a sigh. "You yelling at her did not help matters, Maggie."

"No, it's exactly what she needs. You're both tiptoeing around her and  _look_ at her! She's fighting in school, smoking cigarettes and driving that  _thing_ around like a bat outta hell! She's gonna get herself killed!"

"Maggie, telling Beth that Annette would be ashamed of her behavior is not going to help. You know how sensitive the topic of Annette is for her." Maggie stared at her father as he spoke before sighing.

"Everything is a sensitive topic with her…where would she go, Rick?"

"I reckon she went to Carol's, I'll go get her."

* * *

Beth heaved a heavy sigh as she walked into the smoky and dingy bar. The few people that were inside paid no attention to her, despite her obvious underage presence, as she sat on a stool at the bar. The older woman behind the bar gave her a soft, understanding smile.

"You know I can't serve you what you want," the woman reminded the blonde, who stared at her with a "are you serious?" look on her face. The older woman smiled and chuckled before handing a bottle of beer to the young blonde. "Drink it fast, you know he's coming to get you."

"I know…thank you, Carol."

"It's no problem, honey. I rather you drink here with me where I can keep an eye on you than with your peers where you're unsupervised and surrounded by idiots." Carol passed a beer to a large man with brown hair who was sitting a few seats down from Beth before returning to her. "What happened?"

"I got in a fight, met a new kid who is really…amazing, got yelled at by Maggie and…you know how Maggie is."

"I do and so do you so you know you shouldn't take what she says to heart, Bethy." Beth sighed and took a long drink from her beer.

"She said mama would be ashamed of me…" the blonde whispered, forcing her tears back down. She imagined putting her hurt and pain into a bottle and sealing it and closed her eyes as a small amount of relief washed over her. Carol let out a sympathetic "hmm" and grabbed Beth's hand.

"We both know that it would be impossible for your mama to be ashamed of you…Tell me about this new kid you met. Boy or girl?" Beth smiled at the topic change and instantly felt her heart lighten at the thought of Daryl.

"Male, my age and in all my classes," she replied with a smile. Carol smiled and winked at the blonde.

"Is he cute?" the older woman asked. "Better than your Jimmy?" Beth let out a chuckle at her words.

"Jimmy don't like him none," she responded before taking another long drink. Carol snorted at her words.

"Of course Jimmy  _doesn't_ like him," the older woman stressed  _doesn't_ as a way of correcting Beth's sentence, "he's competition. I can tell because you avoided answering my questions. Hurry on up and finish that, he'll be here in minutes. If you're lucky." Beth quickly drank the last of her beer and Carol tossed the evidence and handed Beth a piece of mint gum to chew.

"He's smart, though he doesn't like to admit it or really act like it. He's protective…and troubled…." Beth chewed on her gum thoughtfully for a moment before grinning at Carol. "He's cute in a rugged way. Jimmy might have some competition, now that I think about it."

"That's my girl," Carol smiled. "He got a name?"

"He does," Beth replied smartly, her eyes bright and her smile widening. Carol smiled and pointed at her.

"You're falling for him already, Bethy." The older woman raised a finger to signal "one moment" and walked off to get another drink for an older man further down the bar.

"Ain't you a little young to be in here?" a deep male voice teased and Beth looked over to the brown haired man and met his blue gaze. Something about the man seemed familiar but Beth knew she had never seen him before.

"What does it matter to you?" she asked. The man shrugged before smirking at her.

"Just tired of hearing girlish gossip comin' from your pretty mouth. Got me thinking you should take that mouth somewhere else, let us drink in peace."

"You seem familiar…what's your name?" Beth asked and the man stared at her for a moment his surprise at the topic change evident.

"Merle Dixon."


End file.
